1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a monitoring device that includes the radio transmit/receive function of a mobile telephone, and in particular to a monitoring device that confirms the safety of people living alone such as the elderly, and notifies of any emergencies.
2. Related Art
Currently, the number of people 65 years and over living alone is estimated to be three million in Japan and nearly ten million in the United States, figures that are predicted to rise steeply.
Since there is nobody around to look out for elderly people when they are living alone, if they suddenly fall ill or meet with an accident, nobody realizes immediately what has happened. Being able to quickly provide the appropriate care in such situations is essential to saving lives.
As such, a number of technologies have been disclosed for confirming the safety of elderly people living alone.
For example, Japanese published patent application no. 2001-357475 discloses technology in which a sensor is provided to detect how many times a person operates a specific object (e.g. toilet door) used in daily life. The detected usage frequency is notified to a safety confirmation center via a telephone line, and the safety of the person is inferred on the basis on the notified usage frequency.
Also, Japanese published patent application no. 2000-138761 discloses a system that monitors the operation status of an oft-used household electrical appliance (e.g. electric airpot), and sends the operation status to an entity/person monitoring the operation status.
While these two technologies can be applied when a person is at home, they are not, however able to confirm a person's safety outside of the home environment.